Computer Speakers

The audio home computing experience has come a long way since the days of the IBM XT or AT, when the MS-DOS operating system first became popular and before the advent of the sound card. At the time, PC audio was limited to the internal speaker; I can remember feeling superior with my Atari ST's integrated audio system, able to play games in stereo sound while my friends were still listening to a series of wimpy-sounding beeps. Today, although you will often find office desktop systems without speakers (apparently there is a belief that good sound decreases productivity) no home computing desktop system is complete without a decent set of speakers.

The decision of what type of speaker setup you want for your system is more difficult than you might imagine, and as with the other components of your computer system, your choice will depend on what you will be using the computer for.

The first decision you will need to make concerns the number of channels, or number of speakers you want. When browsing speaker systems, the setup will be referred to by a number representing the number of channels.

A 2.0 system is the familiar stereo sound system we are all accustomed to, and includes 2 channels: Left and right. If you don't plan on listening to much music or don't care about the quality of the sound, or you have very limited space in the room where your computer system will reside, this is probably your best choice. However, if you listen to any music at all, you will experience a drastic increase in sound quality in the lower frequencies by moving up to a 2.1 configuration. The '.1' refers to a third speaker called the subwoofer or bass speaker that usually sits on the floor.

If you play 3D games, your experience will be significantly enhanced with the purchase of a 4.1 speaker configuration. The 4.1 speaker configuration is similar to the 2.1, but adds two speakers: Rear left and right. In a gaming situation, this allows you to hear whether sounds are coming from in front of you or from behind you, rather than just to the right or to the left. If you are going as high as 4.1, however, we reccomend you move up to a 5.1 configuration since this is the format used by Dolby Digital, which is standard in nearly all DVD movies. The extra speaker in the 5.1 format is called the front-center speaker and is the channel through which DVD movie dialogue is sent.

Speaker systems with an even greater number of channels than 5.1 are available. 6.1-channel sound adds yet another channel called center-surround which is supported by the Dolby Didgital EX and DTS ES DVD audio formats. If you absolutely must have the best, get the maximum number of channels you can find (make sure your sound card supports it first!) but we recommend sticking with 5.1 channels for your PC and using 6.1 or more channels on your home entertainment system if desired.